Northern Territories Alcohol Labels Study
The Northern Territories Alcohol Labels Study, led by CISUR and Public Health Ontario (PHO), is the first real-world evaluation of alcohol warning labels in Canada. The primary aim of this study is to examine the impact of alcohol warning labels as a tool for increasing consumer awareness of alcohol-related health risks and supporting more informed and safer alcohol consumption. This project, led by Erin Hobin (PI) and Tim Stockwell (Co-PI), tests the population-level impact of alcohol warning labels using alcohol sales data and surveys in an intervention site (Whitehorse, Yukon) and comparison site (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories). The study builds on previous research testing the design and acceptability of alcohol warning labels among consumers in Canada.
Several publications from the project were released in early 2020. The study protocol, which is available open-access in JMIR Research Protocols, outlines the original design and modifications a result of interference by the alcohol industry. Initial study results, available open-access as part of the Special Issue on Alcohol Policy and Public Health in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, showed increased support for alcohol policies as a result of increased knowledge of alcohol-related cancer risk. These findings are also highlighted in a blogpost for the Institute of Alcohol Studies and in an infographic poster. Another paper in the International Journal of Drug Policy demonstrated the impact of the evidence-based labels on processing of messaging information and motivation to reduce alcohol consumption.
A special section on alcohol warning labels in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs with six publications from the study was published in May 2020, along with media released from University of Victoria and JSAD. The JSAD research found that the labels reduced alcohol sales and people who bought alcohol with the labels better remembered national drinking guidelines and warning risks about cancer. In addition, a media analysis concluded the majority of media coverage of the Yukon study supported the use of labels, and an analysis of the alcohol lobby's arguments around Yukon’s right to affix the labels on alcohol containers found that their arguments held no water and governments had a duty to inform citizens they were selling a product that could cause cancer or risk leaving themselves exposed to future civil lawsuits.
Researchers
- Hobin, Erin (PI)
- Dr. Tim Stockwell (Co-PI)
- Hammond, D.
- Greenfield, T.
- Paradis, C.
- Vallance, Kate
- Weerasinghe, A.
- Rosella, L.
- Shokar, S.
- Schoueri-Mychasiw, N.
- McGavock, J.
- Dr. Jinhui Zhao